Leadership: Executive Committee

Joe is president and CEO of Mullen, a leading interdisciplinary agency whose clients include the likes of JetBlue, Zappos, Swiss Army, Panera, Alberto Culver, BASF,  Olympus, Stop & Shop, SC Johnson, and Timberland among others.

Joe was one of the original partners at Mullen, joining the firm 27 years ago when it had 10 employees and didn't make the top 50 agencies in New England.  No stranger to change and transformation, Joe has led Mullen through numerous economic booms and implosions as well as dramatic transformations in the advertising industry, rebuilding the agency after a devastating fire, then rebuilding it after losing 50% of his business in one year, selling the company to the Interpublic Group 11 years ago, expanding to multiple offices and, most recently, moving the agency headquarters to Boston after 40 years on the North Shore. Throughout, he has championed and evolved a strong and distinguishing company culture that is its engine for success. 

Joe started his career in media at Benton & Bowles and moved on to account work at Ted Bates. He was recruited to Boston by Hill Holliday in 1981. Joe's an Italian immigrant who's been a latch-key child, a near hoodlum, a construction laborer, a rock musician, a Harley-Davidson bike builder, a staff accountant and a shoeshine boy in his uncle's barber shop in Queens, NY. Each experience has added invaluable perspective to his life, which he loves to share with young people. Today he spends most of his time at the agency defining strategy and inspiring people to dream and exceed expectations. He also serves on, and has chaired, numerous boards in and out of the industry. 

Adam Medros heads worldwide product development for TripAdvisor and is a member of the company's management team.  Since joining the company in 2004, Medros has led efforts in search marketing and revenue optimization and has overseen developments to product functionality, merchandising, and acquisition integration.  He was instrumental in TripAdvisor's 2007 launch of travel applications onto the Facebook Platform.  These applications - Cities I've Visited, Local Picks, and Traveler's IQ Challenge --  have introduced the TripAdvisor brand to millions of new people around the world and generated a high volume of new content for the core site. 

Prior to joining TripAdvisor, Medros held Senior Analyst and Product Manager positions at Nordstrom.com, Amazon.com, and The Parthenon Group.  He serves on the board of oneforty.com, the Twitter app store and is an advisor to Care.com. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College. 

A Business Assurance Partner in the Technology, InfoComm and Entertainment practice, Vic is the leader of the Technology, InfoComm and Entertainment (TICE) practice for the firm's Northeast Region.  Vic was previously the Global Leader for the Software and Internet Sector. His clients range from start-ups to multinational companies, including closely and publicly held, high growth companies.

His educational background includes a MS in Accounting and a BS in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNYA).  Vic is a member of the Curriculum Advisory Board for the Accounting Department of SUNYA. He is a Board member of The Massachusetts Interactive Multimedia Council and an active member of the Massachusetts Software Council.  He is also a member the American Institute and Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Michael Barron is a Partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP in the Corporate Practice Group. Mr. Barron focuses on providing legal services to emerging technology and life sciences companies and to investors in emerging technology and life sciences companies, in addition to providing trademark and licensing services. Mr. Barron is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Mr. Barron is a member of the American Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Licensing Executive Society, the Bioscience Network and the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (Board of Directors). Mr. Barron is the founder and general counsel for the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX).

Chris Colbert is one of the founding partners of Holland Mark, and until his decision to re-launch the agency in 2007 he was the managing partner of Pile and Company, one of the leading advertising industry consulting firms.  From 1986 to 2001 he was the president of Holland Mark Advertising and a principal in its sister company BeNow, a marketing database technology firm. 
In his various roles, Chris developed significant expertise in consumer brand strategies and integrated communications from his work with Blue Cross, TJ Maxx, Universal Studios, Ameritech, Polaroid, Liberty Mutual, and the Boston Globe; in database and relationship marketing, working with brands like Polaroid, Thomson Consumer Electronics (RCA), Scholastic, and Compaq; and a strong competency in addressing the challenges and opportunities in the interactive realm, from his direct involvement with tjmaxx.com and redlobster.com.
 
In addition to his leadership responsibilities, Chris is Chairman Emeritus of the Advertising Club of Greater Boston.  He holds a BA in History from Connecticut College and an International MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business.

Prior to founding Spring Partners in January, 2008, Janer was most recently Chief Marketing Officer of Third Screen Media, a mobile advertising technology and services company, where he was responsible for the company's marketing and product management initiatives.

Before joining Third Screen Media, Janer was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Britemoon, an online marketing solutions provider. In 2000, he was a founding partner of Traverse Partners, a firm providing strategic consulting and interim operational management to VCs and emerging growth companies. Prior to this, he served as Executive Vice President of Fidelity eBusiness, a 90-person Internet strategy and development organization. He was also President and CEO of Larry Miller Productions, a marketing communications firm acquired in 1998 by iXL, an Internet professional services firm, where he was an Executive Vice President.

Janer holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University.